Has CES killed off HD DVD?

 

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Posted on 7 Jan 2008 at 23:01

Warner Bros announcement on the eve of CES 2008 that it was deserting HD DVD for its HD rival has sparked a rash of triumphalism from the Blu-ray camp at CES 2008.

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Panasonic and Philips both used their CES press conferences to display a new range of Blu-ray devices, with the latter declaring outright victory in the high-definition standards battle.

"Blu-ray is the future, with more than half of the studios on board, most notably Warner Bros and its commitment to sell exclusively Blu-ray," declared Stewart Muller, vice president of Philips consumer lifestyle division. "The future for the consumer is nothing but blue."

By contrast, the HD DVD Association is licking its wounds, having cancelled all of its press conferences in the wake of the Warner Bros defection. Toshiba attempted to mount a rearguard defence, expressing its "disappointment" with Warners for deserting the format despite "significant momentum in the HD DVD market". But Toshiba's refusal to take questions at the end of its press conference indicated that the company wasn't prepared to defend the indefensible any further.

Most of HD DVD's "momentum" so far has come from Microsoft. The format may only have survived this long because it is used in Microsoft's Xbox 360, but Bill Gates may well have switched off the format's life-support machine after failing to announce an integrated HD DVD drive in the Xbox 360 as expected in his keynote.

The general consensus at CES is that Blu-ray has now reached the tipping point in its fight to become the de facto high-definition standard.

Now the big question is does it have enough momentum to eventually replace DVD, or will it too fall by the wayside as consumers fail to find sufficient incentives to upgrade?

Click here for our full coverage from CES 2008

Author: Barry Collins in Las Vegas